Western Wildfires Fan Flames Over Links Between Climate Change, Drought And Wildfires — Weather Channel blog. “Already more than four million acres have burned this season, about a million more than the 10-year average. This is especially alarming since in many areas the fire season hasn’t reached its traditional peak…. [R]ecent climate and wildfire research indicates that global warming likely is playing some part in exacerbating both drought and wildfire conditions in some areas and may exert a more heavy-handed influence in the near-future.

Last December, I wrote a blog about how reticent some broadcast meteorologists are about reporting on climate change. Meteorologists — they are the forecasters — have training in atmospheric science. Many are certified by the American Meteorological Society. I suggested there’s a disconnect when they use their A.M.S. seal for on-camera credibility and refuse to give viewers accurate information on climate. The society has a very clear statement saying that global warming is largely due to the burning of fossil fuels.

The next thing I knew, I was being denounced on the Web sites of Senator James Inhofe, Matt Drudge and Rush Limbaugh. The Weather Channel’s own Web site got about 4,000 e-mails in one day, mostly angry. Some went, ‘Listen here, weather girl, just give me my five-day forecast and shut up.’

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5 Responses to Climate news roundup, Weather Channel edition

You know, this whole denial phenomena is an intriguing thing, worthy of study. I think Joe nailed it in his book for many in the political realm when he said it wasn’t the problem the deniers hated, it was the solution – which of course has to be big gubmint and some measure of – gulp – international entanglement if not government. For Republicans and other Neanderthals this is anathema.

But when everyday folks react like this to a simple statement by a credible meteorologist, there’s something more subtle, more visceral going on. At some level, I think these folks see any acceptance of human-induced global warming as a threat to “the American way” which to them means growth, technology, and an ever easier life. It’s almost like they’re locked in a struggle with a bunch of sixties Luddite hippies and they’ll fight to the death to keep them from by-god-derailing this marvelous American growth machine.

Ironic, since the only hope of growing sustainably is to use technology to create new patterns of growth.

“The Dodo (Raphus cucullatus) was a flightless bird that lived on the islands of Mauritius. Related to pigeons and doves, it stood about a meter tall (three feet), lived on fruit and nested on the ground.

“The dodo has been extinct since the mid-to-late 17th century. It is commonly used as the archetype of an extinct species because its extinction occurred during recorded human history, and was directly attributable to human activity. The phrase “as dead as a dodo” means undoubtedly and unquestionably dead.” — Wikepedia

John is right – there is something more visceral going on with people who’s salary does not depend upon denying and delaying – its that they can’t admit that they were wrong and that the pointy-headed environmentalists were right all along. They’ve been indoctrinated by right wing talk radio for so long that they’ve lost any rational thought process they might have once possessed.

Dealing this week with State Legislators from around the country, people who should know that all doubt has now been erased and that Global Warming has been accepted as a real problem by the mainstream political establishment in both parties, I still found people talking about Global Cooling and warming on other planets and fighting hard against even the most modest GW proposals. Its sad and pathetic but we have to push past these folks and continue to marginalize them so that we can raise the bar to where it needs to be.